Blood On The Tracks
by Bob Dylan

From Mercury TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/02/2013 00:20 | #95969 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

1 December 2013

"Blood On The Tracks". It's an album almost synonymous with maturity and the absolute expression of all the nuances of love and loss. It's an album that I notice I love more and more as my life ticks along. When I first heard it at the age of 12 I didn't get it. I didn't see what was so great about it. And even now to this day, I feel their is a more relatable feeling I get from his 60s music. I am 24 years old as I write this. Dylan was 21 and 24 when he made my other 2 favorite albums of his. Is that all it comes down to? Perhaps.

As for this album, well it's a legendary piece of art. It transcends my amateur description. There are just so many themes and details and emotions that are expressed here. The album is a roller coaster, it takes you through all the highs of love found and all the lows of regret. And in the end you leave this record wiser than when you entered.

To name the highlights is basically to name off every track. It's literally that great. The songs that just absolutely gut me every time I hear them are "Simple Twist of Fate" (perhaps one of the most sobering songs ever), "You're A Big Girl Now", "Meet Me In The Morning" (so simple and beautiful and the fucking steel guitar and slide guitar at the end is pure aesthetic perfection), "Shelter From The Storm", and the closer "Buckets of Rain".

Oh and about this closer...it's perfect. I use that word "perfect" too much, I know. But this song AS A CLOSER is perfection. It's like a little nugget of almost simpleton-level wisdom that floats in and soothes us after the emotional journey of the rest of the album that just ended. It's so damn simple and playful and REAL.

This album feels so absolutely relaxed and natural. It's a grand example of the plain expression of very exact and thought-out art. It's an album that opens up more and more not only with each listen but also with each passing year of living. It's an album that is always there to help get me through.

Thanks, Bob.

Grade 100/100 (Edited)

It's like an ice cream in heat or hot tea in cold weather. It warms your soul in the happiness and sorrow. Amazing.

I have been enraptured by this album from the day it was released in early 1975. It is my go to album, even now (nearly 50 years later). I have it at #2 on my all greatest albums. Timing is everything - I was 18, had moved out of home, was making my own mark in the world, my girlfriend had moved 500kms away to begin her tertiary studies & we drifted apart - so the mood & lyrics fitted me like a glove and defines forever that key moment in my life. It's also the songs on this album (Tangled Up In Blue/Shelter From The Storm) that I love to perform in public. (Edited)

This feels like a more personal album from Bob Dylan and in my opinion this works wonderfully making it possibly his greatest ever release. Musically, it is catchy and infectious with Dylan's classic folk style dominating the majority of the songs. His guitar and harmonica playing always seemed so personal and relatable but on here it elevates this to new levels. When you pair this with his fantastic vocal display you get a performance that at times feels like Dylan is performing solely to you. I always get that feeling for pretty much the entire run time of the release making it so easy to connect to him on here. His lyrics are brimming with ideas and they are a lot more relatable with him discussing personal issues that we can empathise with and learn from his experience. His lyrics are worth looking into as they truly are poetry and they will seriously impress you with how intelligent he is with his wordplay. I also don't think there is a bad, or even an average, song on this release with every track feeling significant making this one of the most consistent albums ever released. It also just feels so warm and comfortable to listen to and on this album Dylan has this unique ability of making me think everything will be okay for the 52 minutes this album plays as I just get completely lost in the music. Overall, this record is full of personality, character and quality with it showcasing everything that is so amazing about Bob Dylan and it truly is one of his masterpieces. (Edited)

I don’t feel like typing too much so I’ll just make it short and sweet. This is without a doubt my favorite Dylan album and I think it’s his best. It is without a doubt his most focused album. I think he was trying to prove something considering this came out during a crucial time in his career (Edited)